What are the things you wish you knew when starting out in this hobby?

[ThatM1key]

4) Likewise the speaker to AMP interaction can also have an effect on the sound. It's important to match the two (look for impedance capabilities and if your speaker has lower sensitivity you need a more powerful AMP. If all things are equal get speakers with the highest sensitivity.

That is true. Technically my ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2's are "harder" to drive but my Polk RT55i's "easier" to drive but yet the ELAC's are easier to drive. Bass stands out a lot on the ELACs without touching anything but my Polk's despite them having double the woofers, you need to crank that bass & volume knob.

This was before my "Audiophile" hobby:

• OFC wire is a lot better than CCA wire.
• Magnet size (to an extent) matters
• Paper cone tweeters are terrible
• Bi-wiring is a waste
• HDMI ARC can make TV's flicker

 

[monkeyboy]

Topping products
Active studio monitors are great bang for buck
AKG k371
In general cables don't matter
Very rapid rate of diminishing returns

 

[ThatM1key]

Topping products
Active studio monitors are great bang for buck
AKG k371
In general cables don't matter
Very rapid rate of diminishing returns

Cables do matter

 

[amper42]

Here's my top 10 list:
1. 85% of a good sounding system is the speaker.
2. A quality stereo DAC/Amp combination will sound cleaner than any AVR.
3. EQ is great but sound can improve dramatically with room treatment and speaker placement. Those who develop this skill rely less on EQ.
4. If 50% of sound system cost is electronics, it will likely benefit from better speakers.
5. Features, good design and total functionality can be more important than SINAD.
6. Don't believe a word you hear in online video reviews of audio gear.
7. Let your ears be just as important as spec sheets and test data.
8. A well mastered CD can offer all the quality needed.
9. The search for quality, engaging music can be just as rewarding as new audio gear.
10. Buy what you really want to begin with and be satisfied.

 

[nerdstrike]

For me it was that iTunes would do untold harm by letting it organise my music. Took years to dig myself out of the hole. Were I a fully paid up Apple user it might have been no trouble, but here I am, finally free of all my classical music being scattered into a million "albums".

Also to ignore the maxim "spend as much on amp as speakers".

 

[bloodshoteyed]

What are the things you wish you knew when starting out in this hobby?​

because i'm mid process of gearing up again, i'd wish i knew up-front how life with a single kidney feels like, before actually commiting to selling one....

 

[tomtoo]

Cables do matter

You are right, no cable, no sound.

 

[Westsounds]

I should've explained that point better too. Old records prior to the 1970s didn't use digital master and were using "pure" analog masters. 1980s and above used digital masters. I'm gonna say this right out of the gate, there is nothing wrong using digital masters. The problem I have with records is mainly today's. A good chunk of todays records use the same master as the CD, so efficiently that means paying 2x-3x over the CD to have a inferior version & experience because its a novelty. Personally I didn't like the whole record playing experience because the CD always sounded more better for less effort & money. If you like record's that great. It's great seeing people be interested in hobbies I used to love.

I kind of agree about the pure analogue thing. The fact we went digital kind of cancels out the need for an analogue format. Of course DACs convert to analogue but there's still something about a good sounding turntable and vinyl. I ditched my record collection years ago as well and was totally swept off my feet with digital. In the past few years that's all I have rediscovered a love for it once again. I'm never going to completely go back and be a fanatic of the format but I do very much enjoy it. Maybe it is the distortion I'm enjoying but it's pleasing to my ear, even some modern albums I've bought have sounded good to me and dare I say more even more enjoyable than the CD (even if the master was probably digital). I can't always say that or say it as much perhaps about the all digital format.

 

[ThatM1key]

You are right, no cable, no sound.

They say digital is digital and also analog is analog, so that means we can cheap out on cables.

 

[tomtoo]

They say digital is digital and also analog is analog, so that means we can cheap out on cables.
View attachment 185428

I dont know, who they are? If they are to stupid to differ between digital and analog signal transmitting they are not interesting for me. A cabel has its parameters in that it has to work. Thats it, no voodoo.

 

[Joe Smith]

I wish I could advise my younger self to spend a bit less on extras/spare equipment. Except, perhaps, for cassette decks, where time has not improved the equipment and having a few spare pieces of kit is a good idea (if one's into it). But speakers, amps, CD decks, DACs...generally keep getting cheaper and still of decent quality. And I sure don't need as many receivers as I own since a FM tuner is just not part of my listening habits anymore!

 

[IPunchCholla]

A few more to add:
1) Always spend most of your money on the speakers. In general I follow a 2-1 ratio. If you spend $2000 on speakers spend $1000 on AMP/DAC.

I agree with most of what you said. I also am a total noob at this, but have other expensive hobbies, and a profession that has its expensive toys ( for the average person). One thing I have never understood in a field where quality can be measured, is what the price of one thing has to do with the price of another in a different category.

While it is true right now that to get measurably better speakers costs more than equivalently performing other components, I don’t see a dollar amount or ratio attached to that.

I think data should lead us to get the best performing devices in each category for the least money. So the reviews/measurements here might indicate that I need to spend $2000 to get speakers with the FR/sensitivity that I believe is my minimum requirement, they also show that I can get a DAC, pre-amp, amp stack that should be audibly transparent for $550, if not less.

And the cost of speakers could change tomorrow. I don’t really see an inherent material or research reason why reasonably sensitive speakers with a reasonably (audibly) flat FR should cost 2k. It seems like a solved problem just waiting for someone to disrupt.

Although the allure of velben goods is psychologically as strong as ever. And products exist in the sea of the human culture.

 

[monkeyboy]

I meant as long as they are single crystal and oriented the right way...other than that cables don't matter....

 

[-Matt-]

At first I didn't appreciate the importance of the room (i.e. via effects such as boundary interference).

I believed that incremental improvements in sound quality could generally be achieved simply by upgrading components to more expensive ones (although eventually with diminishing returns).

I had no idea that, for example, a listening position close to an untreated back wall could produce deep nulls that would ruin the frequency response of even the most expensive system - rendering such an investment pointless.

 

[Killingbeans]

• EQ'ing does not corrupt fidelity. It won't fix all your problems, but the few things it's really effective at mitigating (mostly Schroeder), is the closest thing to "magic" you'll find in home audio.
• Normal living spaces are acoustic nightmares. Our hearing is thanfully really good at filtering out most of the horror, but if the room is causing serious problems, and you have the option to do some effective room treatment, do it!
• Speakers/headphones are by far the most important part of a playback system. No amount of fancy upstream gear wil fix a crummy pair of speakers/headphones. If you have a fixed budget for a system, throw the vast majority of it at the transducers.
• The recording/mastering of audio media is probably the single most important factor in the hunt for high fidelity, but if some of your favorite music only exists as piss-poor examples of recording/mastering, don't worry about it and just enjoy it as a part of the artistic expression. Trying to force your preferences into that particular confinement of "good recordings/mastering or nothing!" is a waterslide to misery.
• Capturing audio with a number of microphones, mixing them and playing them back through a number of speakers will never be a 1:1 reproduction. Whether pushing this approximation closer to the real thing is the same as making it more believable, or whether it's a moot point in the scheme of enjoyability is one of the most persistent debates in the hobby.
• The placebo effect is immensely powerful and is not a symptom of lacking intelligence or willpower. The audio hobby is particularly plagued by this effect, and any claims, that are not backed by verifiable data, should be taken with a sizeable grain of salt.
• Using fancy components in the design of audio gear does not automatically give you better performance. The most ideal op-amp in the world still spits out garbage if it's implemented badly. If a manufacturer raves about the expensive components being used in their products, but gives zero measurements showing them as incremental to the performance, run and don't look back.
• Crossover components in speakers do not need to be fancy either. Implementation is again the key. Some types are more suited for certain jobs, but in terms of "quality", longevity is the only thing you have to worry about. A simple bipolar electrolytic capacitor will do zero harm to your audio when used correctly. Film caps made from whale blubber and Incan gold artifacts will do nothing but drain your wallet.
• Don't worry about cables. Treble roll off is the only real thing to be anxious about, and it's hardly ever a problem. Don't buy interconnects with stupid amounts of capacitance or speaker cables with stupid amounts of inductance, and you'll be fine. If you want to be 100% sure, just find the RCL parameters and do the math.
• Ground loops are a pain in the a$$. A lot of confusion about the quality of gear can probably be traced back to that phenomenon.
• 16 bit 44.1KHz is plenty good for audio reproduction in most cases. More than 24 bit 96KHz is definitely overkill. If you see the infamous pictures of "stair steps" and claims about "smooth sound" with higher sample rates, feel free to assume that the person making the claims is either ignorant about the sampling theorem or is trying to prey on your ignorance.
• MQA and DSD is a waste of time. Nothing wrong with wasting time, but forget about any superiority in sound quality.
• Vinyl playback is not technically superior to digital, no matter how much wishful thinking you muster. Some of the shortcomings might result in a pleasant experience, but all of them can be emulated via DSP. Do vinyl for the ritual, the tinkering and the tactile feeling.
• DACs of today are so well matured that most "crappy" built in solutions are hitting the point of diminishing returns in any practical sense.
• Amplifiers of today are also a non-issue (@restorer-john probably disagrees ). Max power and peak power is just about the only thing you have to focus on when it comes to performance. Amps that involuntarily "voices" your system are easily found through measurements, and they usually only appear when serious corners have been cut in the design. Class D doesn't hurt your audio either.

 

[Mojo Warrior]

1. Loudspeakers will largely determine what your music will sound like. Spend 90% of your budget on loudspeakers. The room will greatly affect the sound of your loudspeakers.

2. Trust your ears. It doesn't matter if a former salesman is promoting a loudspeaker on YouTube. Their hearing, brain, musical preferences and financial arrangements are not your musical preferences. Remember, there is no perfect speaker.

3. Do not trust audiophile publications without measurements. Measurements don't lie.

4. When auditioning loudspeakers always use the music that you listen to and prefer.

5. When auditioning loudspeakers always try to A/B comparison. That brings out the differences in sound.

6. Electronics bring only fractional differences in sound and are easy to upgrade over time.

7. Point of diminishing returns are met at relatively affordable levels. Higher prices do not equal better sound.

8. Most tweaks produce maybe a 0.1% change in the sound. Don't waste your money on snake oil and audio scams. Measurements.

9. Hi-fi equipment cannot violate the Laws of Physics. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

10. Do not throw out your valuable music collection. There was nothing wrong with it when it was purchased and it will come back in fashion, eventually.

11. Hyperbole is a red flag in any audio review.

12. Listen to music and not your equipment.

 

[Emdub]

‘What are the things you wish you knew when starting out in this hobby?’
That taping a quarter to the tone arm of my Seabreeze portable player would stop my 45’s from skipping (circa 1956)

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Minimising electrical and acoustic noise is tough , but it has a significant impact
If you can operate balanced (and perhaps differential) throughout the chain, do so
Maintenance can be worthwhile. Some connectors are not air-tight and self-wiping and some metal-to-metal joints interact or oxidise. Regularly check connector state and tightness
Nothing lasts forever. Some components age (bearings, switch a relay contacts, electrolytic capacitors). Expect failures.
Once you've got something reasonably decent, live with it for a long time, perhaps years, and listen to as much music as possible
Your hearing decays with age (even if you look after it), make the most of every opportunity to enjoy music

 

[DSJR]

All these darned lists you people post

I 'started out' as a damned toddler with parents putting on the record player for me (I was five before they let me anywhere near it and then only under supervision) and this journey has been ingrained into my very soul and essence since!!! We had some damned good sounds in the mid 70's long before subjectivist crap interfered in my career and I slipped off the rails for a while before a live jazz trio in the very late 80's shocked me back on the journey to some semblance of 'audio reality.' Marriage ended my audio nirvana for a while and I'm struggling hard to find my way back due to lack of available funds and a surplus of cr@p I've bonded with and will find very difficult and stressful to move on.

So what would I tell my younger self? Not to get married? Don't think so but when my Dad passed away in 2001 and I had the financial chance to buy smaller more domestically acceptable size versions of the active ATC's I loved so very much*, I should have done that, rather than chasing a job with another company which came to nought - the speakers of theirs I bought in good faith they made were pretty cack as well and a perfect example of high-tech materials not making for a 'better' product as I'm sure they weren't ever properly measured

* Yes I know things have moved on since the early noughties as far as speaker tech is concerned, but not sure Genelec or Neumann existed then and even if they did, all but impossible I think to get to hear them in these very early days of the internet.

 

[Jon wise]

I 2nd this. Going with active speakers means your limiting your upgrade choices. Instead of upgrading a piece of your setup, now you gotta replace the whole active speakers or go out and build a setup with separated components.

If the electronics in the speakers are good enough then all well and good, my concern would be if it developed a fault and potential difficulty getting repairs.